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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23419792">The Shelter of the Mace</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sword_Kallya/pseuds/Sword_Kallya'>Sword_Kallya</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Gods of Norfressa, War God Series - David Weber</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Hradani, Religion, Wencit is gonna scream and I'm not sorry, fixit, wizardry</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 09:21:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,211</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23419792</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sword_Kallya/pseuds/Sword_Kallya</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been over 1200 years since a new white wizard has come into their own. Longer, since a wild wizard has been born.</p><p>Semkirk Orfro, god of white wizards, is tired of waiting.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Shelter of the Mace</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Bahzell!” Hurthâng Tharakson clapped his cousin on the shoulder, hard enough to send a normal human stumbling. But neither of them were human. They were hradani, and while their people’s foxlike ears were what really separated them from human, the first thing anyone noticed about them was their size. It was a rare hradani who was less than six feet tall, and Bahzell in particular stood at a towering seven foot eight. “It’s happy I am to see you back! Where in Fiendark’s hells have you been?”</p><p>“Oh, here and there,” Bahzell Bahnakson replied. Like Hurthâng, he wore the green-on-gold of the Order of Tomanâk to which they both belonged. Unlike Hurthâng, his surcoat was torn and muddied from battles and the long journey up the Spear River – and had been originally embroidered in pure golden thread, befitting a Champion of the God of War. “Himself likes to keep us as has his attention on our toes.”</p><p>“Well, if He can be patient and lend you to us for a while, we’re having a bit of trouble ourselves.” Hurthâng began to guide Bahzell not into the warmth of the chapter house – where one might find the grace of its kitchens – but onto the practice fields where the members of the militant order trained for hours every day. “I’ll not lie to you, Bahzell, I was thinking whether I should write you about our little problem even before we got word that you were headed up our way. Y’see, I’ve not the least idea how to handle it, and I was after hoping you might.”</p><p>“Problem?” Bahzell narrowed his eyes, large ears flattening against his skull. “And what sort of problem would you be–” as he got a look at the training grounds, there was no need to finish the question. The figure wasn’t very small, as humans went, but in comparison to the hradani around them, they looked like nothing so much as a doll. “Who in Tomanâk’s name is <em>that?”</em></p><p>“She calls herself Kaelenta, and never bothered with giving us a patronym.” Hurthâng crossed his arms as he watched her spar with a hradani who had the better part of two feet of height on her. “We’re fair sure she’s Sothôii, but she hasn’t been after explaining why she can’t just up and join the <em>Sothôii</em> chapter of the Order, if she’s so desperate to be joining. We had her under Oath of Truth when she walked up, same as all the others, but all she said was that she hadn’t anywhere else to go.” Hurthâng shook his head, in disbelief at his own actions or at Kaelenta’s, he wasn’t sure. “It’s not as if we could turn her away!”</p><p>“And you couldn’t, right enough.” Bazhell watched. The girl was no warrior born, not like some he’d met – men and women. But there was a determination in her stance that matched any of the warriors around her. She’d do right enough, with that mind, assuming she didn’t push herself too far. “When exactly was she turning up?” The Hurgrum chapter of the Order usually kept a three-month probation period, where the recruits were required to train with the rest of the chapter, but without taking the oath that would make them an official part of it. It gave them time to decide if they <em>really</em> wanted to spend the rest of their life doing the same thing.</p><p>“She showed up on the doorstep coming up on four months back,” Hurthâng admitted. “When we told her we weren’t giving her the Sword Oath after three months, she said she was expecting it. Something about her luck always running this way.”</p><p>“Um,” Bahzell hummed. If the girl was old enough to take oath – “Was she saying how old she was? Mayhap she’s too young to be a war maid, so she’s run down here to see if us barbarian hradani will let her in.”</p><p>“Under Oath of Truth, she’s twenty-two. Now, that’s bare a child for one of us, but it’s old enough and more for a human.”</p><p>And Leeana had been fourteen when she signed up. Not age, then. “Well, a month is long enough to be making her wait. I’ll pop up to Hurgrum proper – Da’d be taking my hide for boot leather if I didn’t – and then tomorrow, I’ll give her the Sword Oath myself. Tisn’t fair to make her wait any longer, and it might just be that the shock of meeting a Champion will loosen her tongue.”</p><p>Hurthâng snorted. “I wouldn’t be after holding my breath for that, Sword Brother. Kaelenta has a jaw like a dwarven strongbox. Nothing slips out of it that she hasn’t measured out beforehand. In fact, she–” Hurthâng was cut off as two of the hradani on the training field suddenly switched from regular sparring to something much more violent. <em>“Hey!”</em> He leapt the fence and bolted forward to put himself between them.</p><p>“I’ll just be seeing myself off, then,” Bahzell said to empty air.</p>
<hr/><p>Kaelenta Theisfra shoved the book she was holding down the front of her shirt, climbed the tree she’d scouted out, and offered a fervent prayer to Semkirk and Tomanâk, gods of wizardry and justice. Every time she opened this book, she was in life-threatening danger. No one could reasonably fault her for being <em>born</em> with wizardry, but all too many people would be overjoyed to kill her for it anyway. And <em>studying</em> wizardry was a hanging offense in every kingdom of the Races of Man.</p><p>Which made simply holding this book a hanging offense, as well.</p><p><em>Illusion and Secrecy,</em> the plain lettering on the front said in Old Kontovaran, the language of wizards. The book described, in exquisite detail, how someone with the gift to do it could go about doing anything from turning the eyes away to creating a full image of another person. Its lessons were exactly what Kaelenta needed to hide herself from those who would hunt down and kill a young wizard-in-training… presuming that she could get them to work.</p><p>Unfortunately for her, the book was also <em>missing</em> a few lessons that a beginning wizard needed. Kaelenta knew she had power to spare – the burning fire that spilled out in her tears every time she cried was one of the physical manifestations, but far from the only one. However, the lessons she had were all for an intermediate level, without the basics of forming and shaping power. Kaelenta was having to figure those out as she went. And the more she worked with her power, the stronger those physical manifestations got. Sooner or later, she wasn’t going to be able to hide them anymore.</p><p>Which was why she needed the book. The text – the only one she had been able to steal on her way out of the Sothôii Mage Academy, whose mages were all sworn to hunt down and destroy wizardry wherever it was found – would be able to help her hide the eventual flame-eyes of a wild wizard. Assuming, of course, that she could ever get her power to <em>respond.</em></p><p>Kaelenta plucked a leaf from the tree, stroking its summer-green surface, before she set it in the crook of two branches. One fingertip traced the outline of it, where the dark green of summer hadn’t quite chased out the lighter shades of spring. She chanted softly in Old Kontovaran. Her heart skipped a beat as the area she had sketched out in the air started to shimmer –</p><p>A spark of multicolored flame shot out from her finger, and the leaf disintegrated. Kaelenta hissed a curse. She had no issue with making mistakes, herself. The issue was that she didn’t know what her mistake <em>was</em>. Had she mispronounced something in the chant? Did she use too much power? Should she have traced the leaf out somewhere else, never touching the real thing? <em>Illusion and Secrecy</em> didn’t tell her, except that it most likely wasn’t the last one. The other two, all the authors of the book expected her to know already.</p><p>Kaelenta didn’t have <em>time</em> for mistakes. Every time she failed, she came closer to outing herself as a wizard, without the protective spells she meant to use. Presuming those spells <em>existed.</em> She wouldn’t know.</p><p>She sighed, looking up at the westering sun. She had about an hour before anyone would look for her, most likely. That gave her enough time to puzzle through the relevant passages in <em>Illusion and Secrecy</em> again and still maybe make one more attempt at a successful illusion. Assuming no one walked past her tree and discovered her.</p><p>With a shake of her head at the paranoia that had haunted her thoughts for months, Kaelenta started to read.</p>
<hr/><p>As Kaelenta stepped up to put her hands on his sword, Bahzell thought that he had never seen a more terrified human in his life. She was shaking like a leaf caught in a Sothoii blizzard. But after a moment, her grip firmed. She looked up at him, impatient.  </p><p>Well, if she wanted to take the Oath, it wasn’t Bahzell’s right to stop her. “Kaelenta,” he paused where her lineage would usually go, “do you swear fealty to Tomanak?”</p><p>She gulped but got the words out. “I do.”</p><p>“Will you honor and keep His Code? Will you bear true service to the Powers of Light, heeding the commands of your own heart and mind and striving always against the Dark as they require, even unto death?”</p><p>“I will.”</p><p>“Do you swear by His Sword and your own skill in battle to render compassion to those in need, justice to those you may be set to command, loyalty to those you choose to serve, and punishment to those who knowingly serve the Dark?”</p><p>“I do.”</p><p>Bahzell paused one more time. He could feel Kaelenta’s hands trembling through the hilt of the sword, though nowhere did their hands touch. “Then–”</p><p>A booming voice, stronger than any mortal, cut Bahzell off. Its timbre was the war drum and the bugle call on the battlefield, the clash of swords and the ringing <em>crack</em> of the judge’s gavel. “Kaelenta Theisfra, daughter of Theis and Maritha, I do not accept your oath.”</p><p>Tomanak Orfro, God of War and Justice, Scale Balancer and Judge of Princes, stood in the hall with them. Hradani buildings were enormous, and yet there was no way that a deity taller than the building could yet be in the building to speak to His Order. His armor was of hammered gold, His sword of steel so fine it almost could not be steel, and yet they were also somehow the most perfect sword and armor the universe could have. He surveyed the kneeling warriors, including Kaelenta, who was now outright trembling. The moment stretched for one terrifying eternity, and then He stepped forward to rest a great hand on her bowed head. “Not because the heart behind your oath lacks the courage, or because there is something else lacking in you. I reject your oath regretfully, because any woman with your courage would be a credit to My Order. However,” and the entire room held its breath, “My Brother needs you far more than I do.”</p><p>Kaelenta’s mouth worked for a moment, as if she couldn’t find the words she needed. “I… I am afraid, Lord,” she admitted. “I do not mean to insult Your Brother–”</p><p>“But He’s neglected half his charge for long enough that His church has begun actively attacking those who are part of that charge,” Tomanak finished for her. Bahzell wracked his brain, trying to think of a god whose church had abandoned – <em>half its charge?</em> “But the only way to fix that, is with living proof. We ask,” and here Tomanak did step back. This, not the Sword Oath, would be her formal decision. “That you begin to learn, and to teach, your art.”</p><p>Kaelenta’s head snapped up to look the god in the eye. Hope was written in every line of her face. “Lord, I… I…”</p><p>“Am still terrified that they will hunt you down and kill you for blasphemy,” Tomanak finished again. “As well you should be, given their history. However, you will have one of My Champions with you when you do.”</p><p>Bahzell blinked. Well. That was far more explicit instruction than he’d been given on most of his duties for his god. Bahzell opened his mouth –</p><p>But Tomanak had left in the moment between the end of his message and Bahzell’s question. <em>Just like Himself, to be popping in and out as he pleases, and leaving us poor fragile mortals to be figuring out what he’s after really wanting!</em></p><p>However, the gods were not quite done with them yet. This voice was not Tomanak’s, never could be. It was the rustle of vellum and parchment documents, the crackle of flames, the babble of scholar’s voices raised in debate. “You are right, Kaelenta, My Chosen, in that you will need to hide who you are. For that, I give you this.” A golden symbol, such as any devotee of a particular god might wear, clattered to the floor in front of her kneeling form.</p><p>It was the golden scepter of Semkirk Orfro, patron of wizards, and the God of Light hradani liked least.</p>
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